These days I think the best route for high quality computer speakers are powered near field studio monitors. for example you can get a pair of JBL 305 powered monitors for $200 and they will blow the pants off “audiophile” computer speakers 4x the price.<p>Just need to sort out finding a sound card with trs outs (bonus is you get a physical volume knob and xlr mic inputs as well), another $50-100 or so.
You can buy highend Hifi speakers from the 80s for very cheap (often under 100 bucks a pair), and they don't really degrade if they have elastic cones made out of rubber.<p>Speaker development didn't really evolve since then, what sounded transparent and lifelike back then still does today.<p>If you're in Europe, check online marketplaces for Canton GLE 60, 70 and 100 or Canton Quinto. They also have a high impedance, so low powered amps do fine.
<a href="https://meh.com/deals/polk-audio-bookshelf-speakers" rel="nofollow">https://meh.com/deals/polk-audio-bookshelf-speakers</a>
(No longer for sale)<p>I bought these for 40$ a few years ago and have them powered by a sony receiver and they handle anything I throw at them. I constantly have to turn them down for sake of my eardrums and work just fine for this layman. I do wonder if I'm missing out sometimes but I genuinely can't hear what audiophiles hear when they try to show me.<p>I doubt anyone is interested in my setup, but I have a harmony hub that coordinates my entire little set up. I have presets for my PS5, computer, nintendo switch, and turn table. I hit a preset and the hub will fire all the IR + bluetooth signals needed to power the TV and other necessary systems. All go through these little speakers and I get blown away every time.<p>Edit: A funny anecdote, but I bought these 40$ speakers and realized I needed an amp or receiver to use them. Ended up buying a sony receive for a few hundred open box. I then decided I was going to buy blue rays since I had such a nice video and audio set up but first I needed a blue ray player. Waited on the PS5 and bought that. 1000$ later, I finally can use my stupid 40$ speakers I got on sale. Now my PS5 can output HDR which I hear is divine and my current TV can't handle it. It just never stops does it? lol
I went through the computer speaker setup options at the start of lockdown.<p>In the end I went with a reasonable well reviewed for price (cheap) front ported passive speakers Jamo S 803. Front ported as they sit close to a wall so front porting is supposed to stop the boomy sound. They are small enough to sit on a desk but slightly bigger than average computer speakers so get a fuller sound.<p>I then paired it with a SMSL SA300 class D amplifier. The thing is tiny, has bluetooth, aux in and usb dac. I connect using the inbuilt usb dac instead of aux in as noticed with my imac there was a very slight audible hum from computer noise on aux. As it's a class D amp it has low power draw.<p>For a small office home office (small spare bedroom) I find it a good setup. The stereo imaging is very good, it's like voices are right in front of you, the tiny amp is more than powerful enough for the small room (it's not a home cinema).<p>The setup worked out cheaper than a reasonable priced pair of active studio monitors. It seems better than most computer designed speakers I've listened to and again cheaper than the better computer designed speakers with usb dac built in.
Costco is selling a nice Klipsch set that I’ve been very happy with. It’s a 2.1 set, which is something OP didn’t want, but they also have a separate volume knob for the sub specifically so you can dial it back if you need to.
Does anyone have a mirror? The link is down.<p>Nothing against the OP, but I don't know how in 2021, websites can't handle a few dozen visitors at once. Even a $5 digital ocean machine can handle thousands simultaneously without going down.
I waited until they were 50% off and bought a pair of JBL Professional 308P MKII for £149 a piece. Apparently they are the best speakers in the world under $1000 (a piece).
I'm sure I'm not the only one with a $3 stereo purchased from a garage sale stuffed under his desk. All the volume I want, and darn near free.
The phrase, "too much bass for a small room" is an immediate clue that unlike most such reviews, there's a connection to reality here. Refreshing change.<p>I've seen consistently good talk of Dayton Audio gear for the last several years too, fwiw.
I went through this recently and wanted something great sounding but small, ended up with the Vanatoo T0. Great speakers but you pay for it ($500 CAD).
I gave up trying to find "computer speakers", I tried some "high grade" ones, but they were trash, even though expensive.
A cheaper, and better setup for me, was to buy a Scarlett 2i4 USB Dac and a pair of PreSonus Eris E5 monitors, nice sound, can play very loud (given the size of the room), and gives some nice flexibility for doing stuff with sound and midi too.
I recently built a pair of Overnight Sensations and a Desktopsub with high level inputs. It was a joy, bjt the price of tools to start building was several times higher than that of the kits.